To us it seemed that so good a man, so kind a heart, so simple a nature, deserved rest and peace in a grave sacred from the intrusion of prying eyes, and believed that he himself would have preferred to have it so, but peradventure our wisdom was at fault in this regard.

As we came out upon the floor of the church again, another priest volunteered to show us the treasures of the church.

What, more?  The furniture of the narrow chamber of death we had just visited weighed six millions of francs in ounces and carats alone, without a penny thrown into the account for the costly workmanship bestowed upon them!  But we followed into a large room filled with tall wooden presses like wardrobes.  He threw them open, and behold, the cargoes of “crude bullion” of the assay offices of Nevada faded out of my memory.  There were Virgins and bishops there, above their natural size, made of solid silver, each worth, by weight, from eight hundred thousand to two millions of francs, and bearing gemmed books in their hands worth eighty thousand; there were bas-reliefs that weighed six hundred pounds, carved in solid silver; croziers and crosses, and candlesticks six and eight feet high, all of virgin gold, and brilliant with precious stones; and beside these were all manner of cups and vases, and such things, rich in proportion.  It was an Aladdin’s palace.  The treasures here, by simple weight, without counting workmanship, were valued at fifty millions of francs!  If I could get the custody of them for a while, I fear me the market price of silver bishops would advance shortly, on account of their exceeding scarcity in the Cathedral of Milan.

The priests showed us two of St. Paul’s fingers, and one of St. Peter’s; a bone of Judas Iscariot, (it was black,) and also bones of all the other disciples; a handkerchief in which the Saviour had left the impression of his face.  Among the most precious of the relics were a stone from the Holy Sepulchre, part of the crown of thorns, (they have a whole one at Notre Dame,) a fragment of the purple robe worn by the Saviour, a nail from the Cross, and a picture of the Virgin and Child painted by the veritable hand of St. Luke.  This is the second of St. Luke’s Virgins we have seen.  Once a year all these holy relics are carried in procession through the streets of Milan.

I like to revel in the dryest details of the great cathedral.  The building is five hundred feet long by one hundred and eighty wide, and the principal steeple is in the neighborhood of four hundred feet high.  It has 7,148 marble statues, and will have upwards of three thousand more when it is finished.  In addition it has one thousand five hundred bas-reliefs.  It has one hundred and thirty-six spires—­twenty-one more are to be added.  Each spire is surmounted by a statue six and a half feet high.  Every thing about the church is marble, and all from the same quarry; it was bequeathed to the Archbishopric